Truth is after all a moving target
Hairs to split,
And pieces that don't fit
How can anybody be enlightened?
Truth is after all so poorly lit.
- Neil Peart, Turn the Page
Chapter 3.
"Hey Kris, gang."
"Hi Bill."
About an hour had passed since Kris woke up. They had lifted up the bed, so she was partly sitting up, and right now, she was drinking some water. Bill walked up to the bed and sat down next to Jill.
"How are you doing?"
"Tired… confused."
"Can you give a statement?"
Kris nodded.
"I don't remember much though."
"It's okay, just tell me what you know."
Kris nodded, and Bill pulled out a tape recorder.
"Well, I went out to a disco club named "Manny's", just a couple of blocks away from the beach. I went there together with a friend of mine named Nicole Hanson, she lives two houses away from me."
"When did you get there?"
"Around 11. I know I was there until midnight, because they have this midnight dance competition."
"Did you compete?"
"Yeah, and I came in second together with the guy that had asked me to dance."
The gang smiled, they all knew very well that Kris was a great dancer.
"How much had you been drinking up till then?"
"A scotch."
Bill nodded.
"And after the dance?"
"Well, the guy I've been dancing with left quite sudden, sad, because I had whished to talk to him a little. I met up with Nicole and the guy that had asked her to dance, and we sat down by one of the tables talking a little. She decided to call it a night when the man of hers began kissing her neck, and… Well as far as I know, she followed him home of her own will. I decided to stay a little longer, so I went back to the bar, ordered another drink, and… then it's just completely blank from there."
"Okay. We'll talk to Nicole Hanson when we get the chance. You don't remember the guy you were dancing with, his name?"
"Rick, but I didn't get his last name. But he did seem to be a regular at the place."
"Okay, then we'll ask around at the club. Had planned to do that anyway." Bill smiled, and then continued. "When you woke up then?"
"First thing I realized was that my head hurt so bad. I got a look at my hands and there was blood all over them. Looked down at my dress, and same thing with that… I was laying on a bed in a bedroom, and I walked out into the house, and when I got into the kitchen I found the man sitting in the chair with a bullet hole in his head."
"That man was not the same man that you danced with, right?"
"No, no. The man I danced with was a lot younger. This man must have been at least 40."
"Yeah, something like that." Bill agreed.
"Anyway, I just grabbed my purse and my gun and I went out of the house. I realized I was close to Kelly's house so I ran over there. I let myself in with the spare key and then she took me here."
"Okay. We'll see what we can do. Guys, you're working with us on this?"
"Absolutely." They all agreed.
"What do you want to take?"
"Bosley and I can go down and look around at the club." Julie said.
"Kelly and I can go and talk to Nicole, I know her too." Jill said, and Bill nodded.
"Good. Kris, there's two officers outside the door just in case."
"Just in case I'm a murderer and wants to run off?"
"No. Just in case the other man who was in the house when the guy was killed comes here and try to hurt you."
"What? What other guy?"
"We found footprints in the blood, most likely belonging to a man, and the prints didn't match the dead guys shoes."
Kris nodded. Some relief. Maybe someone else had killed him.
"Can you tell me what type of shoes you wore last night?"
Kris closed her eyes for a second, trying to remember what she had worn.
"7,5 white, quite high stiletto heel."
"Okay, then it was your shoes we found in the house. Good. I'll talk to you later, okay?"
Kris nodded, and Bill turned off the recorder.
"Take care. And guys, you report to me, okay?"
Everybody nodded and Bill and Mike left the room. Kelly looked over at Kris, noticing tears was welling up.
"Hey, kiddo, what's on your mind?"
The others attention turned to Kris, Jill put her hand on Kris' shoulder.
"How could I kill someone without remember it?"
"Kris, we don't know for sure that you've killed anyone." Kelly said.
"But what if I did?"
"Kris, there was another man in the house, the footprints are in the blood. Which means someone else was there when that man was shot. Even if you pulled the trigger, you probably did it in self defense."
Kris was quietly looking down at the sheet. Kelly carefully nudged her cheek.
"Kris? We will find out what happened. We've never failed a case, and we would never fail one as important as this one."
I know, mostly talk, but next chapter will include a little more . . . action ^^